Plunging Temperatures Make it Difficult to Dig Out Side Streets

The city on Thursday again deployed nearly 650 pieces of snow-removal equipment to continue clearing neighborhood streets after more than 20 inches of snow fell on the city since Saturday.

The deployment included 313 snow plows and salt spreaders and 333 pieces of heavy equipment, like backhoes and dumps, according to a statement from Molly Poppe, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation.

The city is renting some of the heavy equipment.

The weekend’s blizzard had dropped 19 inches of snow by Monday, ranking as Chicago’s fifth snowiest storm, according to the National Weather Service. On Tuesday, 1.6 inches of snow fell at O’Hare Airport, followed by another three-tenths of an inch Wednesday.